Gary Scharrer

The governor’s reaction to the Voter ID ruling probably struck many Texans the same way: Doesn’t it make common sense for voters to show ID? A unanimous federal court today turned thumbs down on Texas’ Voter ID law because evidence indicated it would make it harder for some Texans to vote – particularly low income
[Read More]

Monday’s announcement that Michael Williams would become the first African American to lead the Texas Education Agency didn’t get the treatment normally accorded for such a major appointment. There was no Capitol press briefing for Gov. Rick Perry to trumpet his choice. There was no Michael Williams to lay out his vision of public education
[Read More]

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and a progressive citizen’s action committee traded verbal barbs Wednesday in a dispute over public school funding. The often candid and colorful land commissioner called “Progress Texas” “slacktivists” for triggering some 3,200 emails complaining that Patterson was sitting on $300 million meant for Texas school children. Schools across Texas were
[Read More]

The Texas comptroller is trying to make it easier for Texans to find out who exactly is reaching into their wallets for tax revenue. Comptroller Susan Combs has created a new website – http://www.texastransparency.org/yourmoney/localtax/– intended to help taxpayers get a handle on sales and property tax rates from cities, counties, special purpose districts, transit authorities [...]
[Read More]

A group of parents supporting charter schools can stay in a school funding lawsuit, a judge ruled Tuesday, even though their interests may conflict with other parties in the case that are pushing more traditional claims against the state of Texas. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund opposed the inclusion of the charter [...]
[Read More]

Specialty license plates sales have generated $10.5 million for the state’s general revenue fund so far, and the program will likely exceed the $25 million five-year-contract guarantee from My Plates, a marketing company that provides Texans more custom license plate choices. My Plates has sold more than 98,000 new plates and renewals halfway through the [...]
[Read More]

Three Texas anti-hunger organizations have teamed up to launch a new Texas Hunger Research Project website that will provide a clearinghouse for hunger and nutrition-related data and research. The website will provide hunger-related statistics for states and counties as a one-stop site for information about hunger and nutrition in Texas. The collaborative effort involves the [...]
[Read More]

A ruling on Wednesday by the Richmond-based U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals gave Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst another opportunity to take a verbal swipe at his opponent in the July 31 GOP runoff for an open U.S. Senate seat. Dewhurst’s opponent, attorney Ted Cruz, has represented a Chinese company in a battle with American [...]
[Read More]

Gov. Rick Perry’s directive for state agencies to freeze their upcoming budget requests and also to prepare a separate document showing 10 percent cuts highlights on-going budget issues that didn’t stop with lawmakers cutting some $15 billion last year. Part of the state’s financial squeeze goes back to 2009 when state leaders used $9 billion [...]
[Read More]

Children continue to struggle with hunger in every Texas county, according to a new study released Monday by Feeding America. More than one in four Texas children (27.1 percent) stood at risk of going hungry in 2010, according to the report. More than 280,000 Harris County children (25.5 percent) live in food insecure households, according [...]
[Read More]